A Murder in Wellesley: New book revisits Greineder case

A new book about the gruesome Halloween morning murder of Wellesley’s Mabel Greineder by her husband Dirk at Morses Pond is about to debut. Not coincidentally, the authors will be visiting Wellesley next month to promote their account, almost exactly 13 years after the killing.

The case gained national prominence in the early 2000s as salacious details of allergist Greineder’s secret life of porn and prostitutes, against the backdrop of our “well-heeled” community, aired nationally on Court TV. Numerous TV, magazine and newspaper reports rehashed the story, including an A&E documentary program called City Confidential.

The fact that the case is still in the news because of the appeals process provides Farmer/Foley with a current hook for their book tour. “This book is the definitive, behind the scenes account of the Greineder case from the perspective of the lead investigator,” Farmer says. He adds that the authors did not seek to speak to the Greineders’ children, instead using their court testimony and previous media coverage, and focusing the book on the investigative side of the case.

Farmer says his book goes well beyond an earlier account, Murder at Morses Pond, which was based largely on the court transcripts. (We’d heard tell of this new book a few years back while at a Wellesley Police Department open house, after pointing out a copy of Murder at Morses Pond in one of the offices. But Farmer, who got decent airtime during an NBC Dateline examination of the case several years back in light of his covering the story for the Herald, declined to discuss his project with us then.)

Asked about his impressions of the Wellesley Police Department, Farmer says: “I believe the Wellesley PD did a very good job on this case, and was and is a very professional PD.”